When a drunken driver nearly killed Robin Powell during Tampa’s Super Bowl XXXV weekend in 2001, an air ambulance saved her life.

On Thursday, Powell, along with Mothers Against Drunk Driving, the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office, and the Save Our Air Medical Resources (SOAR) Campaign, urge Tampa Bay citizens to avoid drinking and driving this Super Bowl weekend.

“If there weren’t an air ambulance available to me on that awful day in 2001, I wouldn’t be here today as proof of what can happen when people mix drinking with driving,” said Powell, who is now a longtime MADD supporter. “It’s difficult to articulate the pain drunk driving caused me and my family, but also our gratitude that the medical helicopter was there to save me.”

“Emergency air medical services play such an important role in quickly transporting patients from the scene of a crash to a trauma center, so they can get the quality of care they desperately need when every second counts,” said Amanda Thayer, national representative for the SOAR Campaign. “Our mission is to ensure that these services remain available for people like Robin, whose life depended on it.”